Dry Hands

This is my first post I have been a member since 2009 but with ill health and life getting in the way I stopped doing card trick's

I wish to start up again but I have one or two questions.

first question is I suffer with very dry hands and I can't or find it hard to move cards around the deck even a classic colour change I have trouble with, it's like my hands are made of glass even holding a deck and not being able to keep it straight and square is a problem as the cards slide all over the place.

Second question is also about hands.
what exercise or warm up moves do you do to help you manipulate the deck

I would recommend using an exfoliating hand soap followed by some moisturiser to cut through the grit and bring moisture into hard hands.
As for hand exercises...
I usually just rotate wrists, place fingers together then pull palm away to stretch out the fingers, also find that cupping hands and blowing in the hot air will often help as it brings moisture in and hot air which helps a lot.

You can't put it on right before using cards, but if you start using that every day for a while, it will get moisture back into your hands in general. But be aware, that it will leave a residue for a little bit so you'll still need to make sure you're not gumming up the cards.

For right before working with cards, SortKwik. It's what cashiers use to be able to count money easily, that sort of thing. You just need to touch the stuff and rub it on your hands, don't think of it like lotion or your hands will be greasy and nasty.

For hand exercises I tend to use a series of wrist stretches I learned in Aikido that the wrists in all directions. Then (in no particular order) I splay my fingers as much as possible, then clench into fists. I do that a few times in a row. Then place my hands together, and press my fingers together while tilting my palms out, which stretches the fingers backwards. I actually rock my hands back and forth a little to make sure I stretch all the fingers equally. Then a few more fist clenches and releases real quick, and I shake my hands out by letting them go limp and shaking back and forth so they kind of flop at the wrist.

These are really good tips and thank you very much I have already started to use O'keeffe's found it in the garage (bought it last year) I have ordered the Sort Kwik from amazon today. I'm looking forward to watching my DVD's again and hopefully my bought downloads still work from theory11 (2009) they are still listed in my account.

You can't put it on right before using cards, but if you start using that every day for a while, it will get moisture back into your hands in general. But be aware, that it will leave a residue for a little bit so you'll still need to make sure you're not gumming up the cards.

For right before working with cards, SortKwik. It's what cashiers use to be able to count money easily, that sort of thing. You just need to touch the stuff and rub it on your hands, don't think of it like lotion or your hands will be greasy and nasty.

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O'keefes skin lotion seems like a good idea, but on your other points

Using moisturiser over time will not leave any residue on your hands and will simply just add moisture, so I would recommend using this in the morning.

The only problem with sortkwik is that it's designed to make your fingers moist and allow you to grip better in the short term, but will only last a few seconds or minutes.

James, Moisture on the hands and fingers provides friction, and friction is, of course, needed for quite a few card moves. For example, I do Marlo's Snap Change and his Convincing Control, both of which require friction between the fingertips and the cards. The same is true of the toss change (two cards held aligned as one and the unseen card is tossed into spectators hand). What I do is to get a bit of moisture from an ever-present moisture source - the mouth. It is important that no one sees you do this because it may raise suspicion and doesn't look good. But there are subtle ways to do it that will go unnoticed. For instance, you can act as if you are thinking or deciding on what to say, as you bring your fingertips to your lips for a moment. You don't need to actually touch the tongue, as there is ample moisture under the bottom lip. Just find the right opportunity, misdirection, or offbeat to get that little dab you need, and you are good to go...

Moderator

I don't have dry hands, so a lotion may work better for you, but I use a product called Sortquik from Staples (an office supply store here). It's meant to be used on the fingers to help sort and manipulate paper. It's super cheap and works so well for me because it's not a lotion (doesn't make my hands oily) and doesn't wreck my cards.

Hey guys, so I had some more questions regarding this subject, thought this post was still pretty new. I normally never have dry hand problems, but recently I started having some pretty dry hands and it started to really affect my practice. I put some moisturizer on and realized "I should've been doing this a lot earlier!" because of how easy the sleights became. However, I immediately thought about the cards.

First off - will a moisturizer significantly reduce the deck's presentable lifetime? Ie, will moisturizer cause the finish to wear off and the deck to get dirty significantly quicker?

Second - would it be a good idea to carry some around with me (as in the tiny "On the go" bottles), or would that be overkill?

Maaz
First off the simple answer is yes the deck lifetime is reduced but I only use at the moment throw away deck's cheap deck's
Second question only apply hand cream when your not handling your cards. Last thing at night just before bed (wash your hands first) this will give your hands moisture and the cream will then lock it in. If your a practice morning person. Practice first then shower/wash your hands after practice and apply cream after I've found the O'Keefe's Working Hands lotion. http://www.okeeffescompany.com/ to work really well.

Ok that's taking care of your hands moisture problem after a week you should notice a big difference, My hand where very dry and leathery to the touch but now they are much much softer.

Performance and practice I have ordered the Lee's Sort Kwik but it's not widely available in the UK so about 8 week's is my delivery time however I have ordered the Octopalm gel found on amazon and most good Magic shops.

Maaz
First off the simple answer is yes the deck lifetime is reduced but I only use at the moment throw away deck's cheap deck's
Second question only apply hand cream when your not handling your cards. Last thing at night just before bed (wash your hands first) this will give your hands moisture and the cream will then lock it in. If your a practice morning person. Practice first then shower/wash your hands after practice and apply cream after I've found the O'Keefe's Working Hands lotion. http://www.okeeffescompany.com/ to work really well.

Ok that's taking care of your hands moisture problem after a week you should notice a big difference, My hand where very dry and leathery to the touch but now they are much much softer.

Performance and practice I have ordered the Lee's Sort Kwik but it's not widely available in the UK so about 8 week's is my delivery time however I have ordered the Octopalm gel found on amazon and most good Magic shops.

here is a link to the promo Video Review

James

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Thanks James!
How much does it reduce your cards' life by? Is it really that big of a deal (ie. will it reduce it to the point where I'm going through decks twice as quick, or maybe just by a couple days/weeks depending on how much you use them). I don't think it'll reduce it too much, will it?

The only problem with sortkwik is that it's designed to make your fingers moist and allow you to grip better in the short term, but will only last a few seconds or minutes.

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Old trick: Put a small smear of Sort Quik behind an earlobe. You only use a small touch of it on the portion of finger which needs the grip. A natural touch of a earlobe (itch? etc) is the perfect cover to apply more if needed.

Use a thumb to transfer from earlobe to finger contact point under natural misdirection if so needed.